Researchers also concluded that those who developed better relationships did so because they were conscientious (persistent, prudent, and planning), accomplished more at work, had more opportunities, and lived the most exciting lives, compared to others in the study.

If you want to be healthy, spend time with healthy people.

If you want to be successful, spend time with successful people.

Having accountability and encouraging people in your network add to your own success in the areas that matter most.

3 Traits Of Intelligent Achievement

Building good habits around researched success principles move you from fake success to sustained intelligent achievement.

Following the crowd will keep you in a mediocre life without ever fully reaching your potential and the levels of achievement you’re capable of.

It also keeps you dependent on and influenced by others, and completely average.

You’ll numb out to your purpose, fail to set goals, and end up surrounded by the majority of average.

Instead, successful people master these 3 elements of intelligent achievement.

3. Pragmatic growth.

Pragmatic growth, measurable growth, the growth that you take personal responsibility for.

Your growth has to be measurable and you need to have someone you’re accountable to for it.

Otherwise, you’ll be like everyone that starts a new diet and fails one week later.

Knowing what your end point is, and reverse engineering a plan of measurable steps to get there, is key.

It’s strategic.

It’s not one of those ideas that floats through your brain, mixes with other thoughts, and dissipates.

It’s concrete.

It’s written down.

It’s methodical.

It’s specific, dated, and you’ve shared it with someone that will hold you to it.

Pragmatic growth requires behavior change.

This comes down to setting up micro-habits for yourself.

Creating small, achievable, daily habits that you start building into your routine, specifically oriented to your end goal and overall success.

You make small changes every day that lead to increased momentum and bigger changes long-term.

All in the direction of your goals.

Once you do this, and start stacking your good habits and small achievements, start rewarding yourself.

This will help you avoid willpower depletion.

This helps you feel like you are in control.

That you take personal responsibility and self-regulate through challenges and struggles, rather than blame any mistakes on other people.

When you start taking personal responsibility, you keep growing.

When you make mistakes, you can look at what went wrong, fix it, and move forward.

It’s an evolution.

But, your goal is the prize you keep your eye on.

Fake success is the kind of success that is a moving target.

It doesn’t have anything to do with you.

Usually, it’s you trying to achieve somebody else’s version of success.

It doesn’t require the same level of discipline or focus, and is easily influenced.

Studies show that if you and a friend both write down your goals and you happen to read your friend’s goals first, you are 50% more likely to write down a goal that’s related to your friend’s goal.

What that means is that other people affect us.

Our biology causes us to copy other people.

And so, whoever you’re around, you will end up chasing their goals if you leave your focus left unchecked.

The desire to copy will work against you and lead to fake success.

You might think you’ve reached some pinnacles you were hoping for, but more often than not, you’ll reach that peak, look around, and think, “Wait, this isn’t right for me. This isn’t actually what I wanted.”

You won’t have changed and your success won’t be as savory.

You’ll never feel satisfied, because you will have focused all your energy on something that doesn’t really resonate with you.

You might have got caught up in someone else’s enthusiasm and reached their pinnacle.

But, it’s not the same as setting your own, engineering your own, and putting in the work to achieve and celebrate it as your own.

The only way to avoid this is to pursue an intelligent achievement, which is something that’s a part of you, something that’s aligned with your goals, aligned with your priorities, and is based on these 3 things: focus, creation, and growth.

There is a difference between fake success and intelligent achievement. And, that difference is focus, creation, and growth. Protecting your mental energy, prioritizing autonomy in creative ownership, and creating a smart plan that is measurable and accountable, and designed to move you forward with strategic habits and behaviors, is the formula for real success that has depth, is fulfilling, and lasts.

To learn more about Why Intelligent Achievement Is The Only Real Success, and to get instant access to exclusive training videos, case studies, insider documents, and my private online network, get on the wait list to create your Escape Plan and Achieve Intelligent Alignment.